If you tire of retail therapy, you can have a salad in the Emporio Armani Caffe or a glass of wine and a bowl of pasta in the restaurant upstairs, or perhaps pick up a CD or a book from the bookshop carrying a selection of coffee shop tomes selected by Mr Armani. Blooms can be bought in the Armani florist, sweets from the area selling Armani chocolates and when night falls there is a nightclub underneath and an Armani hotel above, catering to both night owls and those seeking a more restful evening.

With its sprawling size and seemingly endless product offer, the Emporio Armani superstore is a physical embodiment of the power and reach of what began as the "little sister/little brother" to the Giorgio Armani brand.

Many brands now have separate, younger labels - Prada has Miu Miu, Alexander McQueen has McQ and Versace has Versus, for example - but the concept was relatively uncommon when Giorgio Armani founded Emporio Armani in 1981 with an eagle logo.

''From a creative point of view, Emporio Armani … allows me greater opportunities to come up with amusing, modern and free-spirited looks, while maintaining my essential style,'' Giorgio Armani.

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At the former's Milan Fashion Week show in February, this meant sparkly cocktail dresses and perky oversize taffeta roses compared with the more grown-up velvet and suiting at the Giorgio Armani show.

On parade ... a model walks the runway during the Emporio Armani fashion show as part of Milan Fashion Week. Photo: Getty Images

There are now 196 Emporio Armani outlets around the world (either directly owned or free-standing third-party concessions). Of the Emporio Armani stores, 48 opened in the past couple of years; new stores in Brussels, Vienna, Chicago and Istanbul will be added shortly.

''The line is giving excellent results and is one of the key drivers of the double-digit growth the Armani Group enjoyed in 2011,'' says the global director of licensing and communications at Giorgio Armani, Fabio Mancone.

In that year, Armani released its results for 2010, which showed that 81 new free-standing points of sale for the Giorgio Armani Group had opened. In addition, consolidated revenues rose to €1587.6 million, up 4.6 per cent on 2009.

Today, a little of Emporio Armani's Milan magic is coming to Sydney with the reopening of the brand's Sydney flagship store in Martin Place, after a refurbishment bringing it in line with stores recently opened in Brazil, Paris and Barcelona.

Designed by Giorgio Armani and his team of architects, the store's new fitout includes walls covered in black crystals, backlit glass shelving and four large screens on which the current collections are projected.

Spread over two storeys and 424 square metres, the store houses the complete Emporio Armani collections for men and women, the Emporio Armani underwear and jeans lines, accessories and the EA7 sports collection.

The chief executive of Giorgio Armani Australia, Mary Chiew, says the decision to reinvest in the Sydney store was driven by its strong performance and position in the local market.

''We continue to find the Martin Place position commercially successful, with most of our clientele frequenting the area given the close relativity to the CBD district,'' Chiew says.

Sydney sales have also been fuelled by ''close proximity to other luxury brands such as Burberry and Louis Vuitton'', which have recently opened on nearby George Street.

While Burberry is among the luxury brands that now have younger, subsidiary labels (Burberry Brit), Louis Vuitton is among the others that have resisted, choosing to focus on their main lines. For such brands, selling smaller items at a lower prices (for instance, wallets and key rings) is an alternative way to offer an entry point to younger customers while maintaining the purity of the main line. Yet Giorgio Armani has managed to create two separate brand identities for Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani, largely through his use of celebrities such as musicians and sports stars to promote the former, and unofficial aspirational ambassadors such as Cate Blanchett to promote the latter.

David Beckham has posed in his underpants for Emporio Armani's underwear line, as have Cristiano Ronaldo and Rafael Nadal, while Alicia Keys, Megan Fox and and Beyonce are among the musicians and actors who have links with the brand.

Giorgio Armani has never shied away from marketing - he has another Armani hotel in Dubai, scents and even a bottled water bearing his initials - and with EA7 is about to embark on perhaps the biggest branding exercise of all: the Olympics.

EA7 is the sponsor and official outfitter of the Italian team for the London Olympics and will unveil its uniforms on May 8. On March 22 the company released its new global advertising campaign, which features Italian athletes in black-and-white photographs with inspirational slogans, but Giorgio Armani immediately found himself in hot water with the British press. London's Telegraph newspaper accused Armani of trying to steal the thunder of British designer and official British team outfitter Stella McCartney, who launched her Olympics campaign one minute later.

''Stella McCartney launched her Olympics campaign at 12pm and exactly a minute before, Giorgio Armani swooped in with an email announcing his new campaign with Olympic athletes,'' reported The Telegraph. ''Talk about stealing thunder.''

It is a considerable honour for Giorgio Armani to be chosen to represent his country but it can't be lost on the billionaire designer that it's also a marketing opportunity with serious potential commercial gain.

Mancone agrees that EA7 ''is turning into a force of its own. As official outfitters to the Italian Olympic team, we will undertake a strong and very impactful communication campaign.''